Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Holly forced herself to drink the bitter sludge that passed for coffee. Although she craved the caffeine, what she really needed was sleep, silence, and twenty fewer heartbeats per minute.
After a grueling walk over the landslide that had buried the mountain road, the sheriffs and officers had loaded the patients into the two patrol cars.
Ben and the other sheriff had driven them toward Milltown and the other officers had returned to the accident scene to collect their cars.
While she and her patients headed west, the rest of the officers were returning to their stations on the east side of the mountains.
Luckily, they hadn’t gone more than twenty minutes before meeting up with three ambulances. It had taken more time to transfer and stabilize the victims, but now they were safe at the hospital and, as far as she knew, still alive.
As a doctor who wasn’t officially on staff until next week, she’d been treated cordially but left out of all the official loops. She understood, though. They were grateful for her help but couldn’t share anything more than the basics until she was an employee.
She paced near the Emergency Room intake desk, keeping her expression concerned yet professional.
But she couldn’t hide her shock at Milltown Hospital’s tiny ER waiting room.
She’d known she was leaving one of the largest, busiest, and most advanced hospitals in the country, but the orange plastic chairs and buzzing fluorescent lights felt like stepping into a medical show from the 1970s.
Hopefully, the X-ray and MRI machines were more up to date. And she prayed the hospital had a compound pharmacy.
She flexed her hands and paced the corner of the waiting room, casting a glance at the front doors. After the EMTs had rushed the victims inside, Luke had excused himself, saying he and Ben were going to wait for their brother Jacob and their Uncle Gage outside. They’d left fifteen minutes ago.
Holly stretched her arms, trying to work out the ache in her muscles, when the front doors banged open.
A huge man with a shaved head and a brown goatee staggered inside, a motorcycle helmet dangling from his hand. Road dust coated his worn black leather jacket, jeans, and boots. His pale face and glassy green eyes had a grayish cast, and he clutched his right side just below the ribs.
The intake nurse was buried in paperwork, and the orderlies were beyond the swinging doors with glass windows that gave her a view of the ER’s triage area.
Holly’s pulse kicked up, and she crossed the room without hesitation. “Sir, can you sit down for me?” She lowered her voice, making it a calm, steady thing he could hold on to.
The biker slumped into the nearest chair with a harsh grunt. “Please help. Wedding… Sunday.”
She knelt in front of him, scanning quickly. Fever. Sweating. Guarding his abdomen. “Did the pain begin about an hour ago?”
His eyes widened in surprise, then he nodded.
“Does it get worse when you try to straighten up?”
Another tight nod, as if even that hurt.
“I'll be right back.” She squeezed his knee lightly, a soft promise, and rushed back to the intake desk. “That man over there,” she said, pointing to the man who was now lying across three chairs, “needs a surgical consult immediately.”
The nurse glanced up, momentarily bewildered, and searched the room.
Holly leaned in, keeping her voice low but firm. “Probable appendicitis. He's close to rupture.”
The nurse jolted into motion, grabbing the phone.
As the call went through, Holly hurried back to the biker and touched his shoulder again. “You're going to be fine,” she said gently. “We'll have you fixed up in time for your wedding.”
The swinging doors burst open and a trauma team rushed toward them. Holly stood aside but kept her hand lightly on the biker’s shoulder until they had him transferred to a stretcher.
The front doors opened again, distracting her.
Luke stepped inside, still wearing his jeans and T-shirt covered in dirt and dried blood.
He clenched his cell phone in a hard fist, and his sharp gaze swept the room until it landed on her.
He froze for half a second, his presence feeling sharp and vivid and way too dangerous.
For a second, everything else faded—the fluorescent lights, the antiseptic smell, the tired ache in her bones—and it was just him.
Then his mouth curved, slow and crooked, like she was the only thing he wanted to see.
She inhaled deeply, until she felt lightheaded. She shook her head to break the moment.
He started toward her, his strides easy and sure, like he had every right to cross the space between them.
She left her patient and moved toward him before she caught herself, heart thudding against her ribs.
He was only a few steps away when he said, low enough that only she could hear, “Holly?” He gently touched her cheek, and then dropped his hand. “Are you okay?”
The roughness in his voice, which carried so much worry along with so much something else, wrapped around her chest, leaving her breathless.
She opened her mouth, but no words came.
Ben, and two other men who resembled Luke, burst through the doors, calling his name. Luke hesitated, eyes lingering on her like a promise he wasn't ready to say out loud, before Ben grabbed his arm and dragged him toward a cluster of chairs in the corner.
But he glanced back at her and tipped his head slightly. It was a silent salute, meant only for her, full of everything she wasn't supposed to want anymore. Everything she’d promised herself she’d never seek out again.
She blinked hard against the sudden burn in her eyes. What is wrong with me today?
She released a deep sigh and watched as the trauma team wheeled the biker through the swinging doors.
That was when she dropped into one of the ugly orange chairs, exhaustion settling over her like a too-heavy blanket.
She didn’t glance toward the far corner where Luke was now arguing with Ben in low, angry tones, but she wanted to.
Instead, she was just doing what needed to be done. Except it hadn’t been a normal day. So far she’d hitchhiked a ride with a handsome stranger. Eaten banana pudding on a cliff overlooking the Shenandoah Mountains. And then saved four men from a tragic accident.
She rested against the hard plastic seat back, closed her eyes, and listened to the hum of the fluorescent lights above her.
When she’d first come in with Ben, Luke, and the four accident victims, the ER staff pretended not to watch the Mosby brothers, even though they’d called them by name.
Since then, she’d felt the weight of a dozen curious stares.
During their drive to the hospital, Luke had told her the story about how Damian—the mangled biker they’d saved from beneath the truck—was Luke’s half-brother.
And, from the whispers she’d heard since arriving at the ER, word had spread that the Mosby boys’ infamous half-brother, and another one of Caleb Mosby’s grandsons, was now bleeding and broken in their OR.
During the entire ordeal, she’d kept her composure, not wanting to tell Luke and Ben that there was a strong chance Damian might not survive his injuries.
“Gage Mosby?” A woman’s voice called out in the waiting room.
Since duty called again, Holly opened her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
A middle-aged nurse in green scrubs, with black curls and a no-nonsense vibe, approached the men in the corner of the room. She held a medical file against her chest like a shield.
A tall man who was similar in build and form to Luke and Ben came forward. “Yes?”
Luke had told her that Uncle Gage, one of Luke’s father’s brothers, had recently retired as an Army Ranger and moved back to Kingsmill.
Luke had also alluded to the fact that Gage had taken on a patriarchal role in the family.
And despite being closer in age to his nephews than his five older brothers, he’d become a de facto father to all of Caleb Mosby’s grandsons.
She’d also learned that while Gage had been rearranging his nephew’s lives, Caleb’s granddaughters were doing fine on their own.
“You’re Gage Mosby? Damian Fawkes’ uncle?” The nurse’s voice, low and direct, was tinged with surprise, as if she didn’t understand why Gage appeared so young.
“I am.” Gage nodded to Ben, Luke, and the third man who now formed a wall behind him. “These are Damian’s half-brothers. Jacob, Ben, and Luke.”
The nurse straightened her shoulders. “I’m the charge nurse tonight. Damian is in surgery now. Dr. Hartman is with him.”
“How is he?” Jacob, who was just a tiny bit taller than Luke and Ben, stepped forward with the authority of an eldest brother.
The nurse gave a small, almost apologetic smile. “Normally, we couldn’t tell you much without next of kin... but considering we can’t locate any of Damian’s relatives…”
“His uncle is in Florida,” Gage said. “I’ve spoken to him and he said he contacted the hospital director about extending his privileges to me.”
“That’s what I’ve been told.” She glanced between Luke, Kane, and Gage.
“Milltown isn’t exactly a secret-keeping kind of place, and I’m new here, so I’m not used to everyone’s families being so interconnected.
” She cleared her throat and glanced down at the file she held against her chest. “Anyway, Dr. Hartman asked me to update you personally, Mr. Mosby.” Her cheeks flushed.
Gage’s smile was kind and comforting, clearly meant to put the nurse at ease. “You can call me Gage.”
Luke swallowed visibly. “Is Damian...?”
“He’s holding his own,” the nurse said quickly.
“But it’s serious. Multiple internal injuries.
We’re doing everything we can. But his leg and one of his arms will require an orthopedic specialist. Since Damian isn’t stable enough to be airlifted to Fairfax Hospital, the head orthopedic surgeon is on her way here now. ”